What you can do to Improve your reading test scores?

Firstly, complete all of your ONLINE reading Home-works! Secondly, read over the advice below and consider which questions you struggle with. If you are concerned about your mark, ask your teacher for a breakdown of the questions you are doing well in and the questions you are struggling with from your latest National Reading Test.

1. Reading Strategies
   Slow down when you read. Break down words and sentences into ‘chunks’ to make reading easier.

2. Vocabulary and Word Recognition
   Use a dictionary to check the meaning of words you don’t understand.

3. Reading Comprehension
   Practise your reading at home and reread sentences to work out that they mean.

4. Read and Understand Texts
   You must read questions and texts carefully. It is often necessary to read over these more than once, even if there is a lot of writing. You must get into the habit of rereading to ensure that you understand.

5. Reading Grammar and Punctuation
   Make sure that you read carefully, pausing where there is punctuation. If you do not understand what you have read, reread the text.

6. Recognise Purposes of Text
   Understand why something has been written. Try reading lots of different pieces of writing and work out why they are different.

7. Instructional Texts
   Make sure that you read instructions carefully and follow them in the correct order.

8. The Main Points of Texts
   When you read a piece of writing, try to work out the main points that are being made by the author. Try to summarise these in your own words.

9. Detailed Reading
   Track through the texts, i.e. read the text from start to finish so that you do not miss any of the details given.

10. Identify how main points are presented
    Summarise the main points that are being made in a text and work out how the author tries to affect what the reader thinks.

11. Using Context
    When you are reading, try to make connections with what you already know. Look for clues such as pictures, graphs and subtitles to help you.

12. Understanding Purpose and Audience of Text
    Every piece of writing is written for a reason (purpose). Every piece of writing is aimed at a particular audience. Work out the purpose and audience of each text you read and write. This will help you understand the writing.

13. Detect Point of View
    Each author will have their point of view.
    Try to work out where their opinion is being given and why they might think this way.

14. Identifying Bias
    You need to work out what is bias (one-sidedness).

15. Identifying Fact and Opinion
    You need to work out what is fact (true) and what is opinion (somebody’s point of view).

16. Comprehension including Inference and Deduction
    You need to read very carefully. Rereading is essential in order to ensure that you understand and can work out the answer to any questions asked. Not all information is given directly. Sometimes you will have to work out what is being said by reading between the lines.

17. How Meaning is Conveyed
    Authors will try to affect what we think and imagine by using specific words, phrases and techniques.
    You need to be able to identify these and explain how they work, e.g. if a writer asks a rhetorical question, it forces us to think about the answer to that question.